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Aqua vs Phoenix

Comparing
two wallets
Decided by
Editorial rating
Last reviewed
2026-08-26
Aqua3.6

A self-custodial Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt wallet built for people who need cheap dollars on a phone, not only bitcoin.

Phoenix4.0Bitcoin-only

A real Lightning node on your phone from the team behind Eclair, with a published fee table and a privacy tradeoff ACINQ states outright.

Verdict: Phoenix

Phoenix rates higher on our rubric: 4.0 against 3.6 for Aqua.

Criterion
Editorial rating
Aqua
3.6
Phoenix
4.0

Aqua and Phoenix, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Aqua and Phoenix compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
FactAquaPhoenix
Editorial rating3.64.0 (favoured on this row)
StatusAvailableAvailable
Made byJAN3ACINQ
PriceFree downloadFree download
Who holds the keysself-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Androidself-custodial, a real Lightning node running on your phone behind a 12 word seed
Bitcoin-onlyNoYes
Runs oniOS, AndroidiOS, Android
ScreenNot statedNot stated
ConnectivityOn-chain bitcoin, the Liquid Network, and Lightning through submarine swaps rather than channels of its ownLightning only, connecting to ACINQ's nodes, with the option to watch the chain through your own Electrum server
Released2024, by JAN3December 2019, alongside ACINQ's Eclair node implementation
Countries on the maker's listNo published listNo published list
Last reviewed2026-08-252026-08-26

Pros and cons, side by side

Aqua

What works

  • Self-custodial, with the seed kept in the phone's own secure storage and no documents required to open a wallet
  • Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt in one app, which is the point for anyone who is paid or saves in dollars
  • Aqua's own figures put a $100 USDt transfer at three cents over Liquid against eight dollars over Ethereum
  • Network fees on USDt can be paid in USDt, so there is no separate gas token to hold
  • Replace-by-fee support, so a stuck transaction can be bumped instead of waited out
  • Client source published on GitHub, and Aqua says it collects no personal data or transaction logs

What to watch

  • Not bitcoin only: a large part of the app is about stablecoins
  • Liquid balances are secured by the Liquid federation rather than by bitcoin's own mining
  • Lightning runs through third-party submarine swaps rather than channels Aqua manages
  • USDt transfers over Tron or Ethereum depend on SideShift's liquidity, as Aqua's own FAQ says
  • In-app bitcoin purchases are run by outside providers, so the country rules and the support queue are theirs
  • A prepaid card and lending are advertised as coming rather than shipped

Phoenix

What works

  • A real self-custodial Lightning node on the phone, not an account on somebody's server
  • Fees published as a table on ACINQ's own site: 0.4% plus 4 sat to send, free to receive when you have liquidity
  • Standard BIP39 seed on a BIP84 path, recoverable in Electrum if ACINQ ever disappeared
  • Built by ACINQ, which develops the Eclair implementation and runs a large routing node
  • Rotating taproot receive addresses, with swaps that look like ordinary transactions on chain

What to watch

  • ACINQ's own FAQ says Phoenix offers no privacy advantage over a custodial wallet and that ACINQ knows the destination and amount of payments
  • Receiving without enough inbound liquidity costs 1% plus mining fees, and a new channel costs 1,000 sat
  • No on-chain balance, which makes it a spending wallet rather than somewhere to park savings
  • Recovering from a force close takes roughly 720 blocks, about five days
  • Wake-up notifications rely on Google services, so GrapheneOS users need the sandboxed Play Services app
  • Was off US app stores from May 3, 2024 until some point in 2025, which is why some reviews still call it unavailable there

Frequently asked questions

Is Aqua or Phoenix better?

Phoenix rates higher on our rubric: 4.0 against 3.6 for Aqua. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Aqua and Phoenix free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Aqua is self-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android; Phoenix is self-custodial, a real Lightning node running on your phone behind a 12 word seed.

Is Aqua or Phoenix bitcoin-only?

Phoenix is bitcoin-only; Aqua supports other assets too. Multi-asset: bitcoin on chain, Liquid bitcoin, and Tether USDt on Liquid and several other chains

The full reviews: Aqua and Phoenix, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

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